Accuracy, versatility, ease of use, durability, and cost of manufacturing are important parameters for fluid pressure sensors. In the past hermetically sealed sensors have been used to provide a reference atmosphere for the pressure transducer (the pressure transducer providing an output indicative of a pressure differential on two surfaces of the transducer). A hermetic seal requires a container that is rigid and sealed well enough to withstand the normal wear and tear of a component which may be used in relatively instrument unfriendly industrial environments such as in chemical refineries and oil wells.
Such hermetically sealed pressure sensors provide a pressure measurement that is with respect to the environment inside the sensor package when the sensor was sealed. Sealing the sensor package in a vacuum increases the cost of manufacturing the sensor, while sealing the package at the factory ambient pressure prevents the accuracy of any direct absolute pressure measurement since moving the sensor to a different altitude will cause a pressure differential between the reference pressure of the sensor and the ambient air pressure. Either reference environment does not allow simple, direct measurement of both absolute and gauge pressure.
The use of a wireless pressure sensor allows easy relocation of the sensors and the easy addition of additional sensors as compared to more conventional wired pressure sensors.
What is needed is a fluid pressure sensor that is of high accuracy in an industrial operation while also being versatile, easy to set up and use, durable, and cost effective to manufacture.
It is a principal object of the present invention to a fluid pressure sensor that provides these needed parameters.